READING

By the end of grade 8:
a. Use knowledge of word relationships, as well as historical and literary context clues, to determine the meaning of specialized vocabulary and to understand the precise meaning of grade-level-appropriate words.
b. Infer figurative meanings of phrases from the use of idioms, analogies, metaphors, and similes.
c. Use the dictionary as a tool for reading (e.g., pronunciation, parts of speech, etc.).
d. Apply knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon roots and prefixes to infer the meaning of words.

By the end of grade 12:
a. Recognize and interpret a variety of figurative structures when encountered in a text.
b. Recognize and infer the rhetorical intent of various language choices (diction, parallel structures, subordination and coordination, rhythm and meter)
c. Maintain and update a personal vocabulary log.

READING

By the end of grade 8:
a. Determine the purposes and characteristics of a variety of genres (poetry, fantasies, myths, historical fiction, novels and novellas, non-fiction, autobiography and biography).
b. Name the structural elements of the plot (e.g., exposition, rising action, climax), the plot's development, and explain the extent to which conflicts are addressed and resolved.
c. Compare and contrast motivations and actions of characters from different literary works.
d. Understand relevance of setting (place, time, and customs) to the mood, tone, and meaning of text.
e. Identify and analyze recurring comparative themes (e.g., good and evil, heroism, appearance v. reality, traditional and contemporary) across works.
f. Identify significant literary devices that define a writer's style (e.g., metaphor, symbolism, dialect, and irony) and use those elements to interpret the work.
g. Explain connections among essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives of literary text.
h. Make inferences and draw conclusions based on implicit and explicit information.
i. Produce responses to literature that utilize the aforementioned skills.

By the end of grade 12:
a. Analyze recognized works of literature representing a variety of genres and traditions in order to:
(1) trace the development of literature through history;
(2) recognize the common definitions of major periods, themes, styles, and trends;
(3) describe various ways that works of different cultures relate to one another in each period;
(4) evaluate the philosophical, political, religious, ethical, and social influences that shaped characters, plots, and settings; and
(5) identify the similarities and differences between literary works from different cultures, ages, and ethnic, gender, and class contexts.
b. Identify characteristics of sub-genres (e.g., pastoral, satire, parody) that are used in poetry, fictional prose, drama, novel, short story, essay, and other basic genres.
c. Determine the implicit and explicit philosophical assumptions and beliefs of a text.
d. Make valid assertions about significant patterns, motifs, and perspectives by using elements of text to support interpretations.
e. Analyze ways in which imagery, personification, figures of speech, and word sounds are used in poetry and prose to create meaning.
f. Analyze how irony, tone, mood, style, and "sound" of language are used to achieve specific rhetorical and aesthetic purposes and to create meaning.
g. Understand the function of literary devices (e.g., simile, metaphor, personification, paradox, synecdoche) in fictional or poetic text and use these to interpret and criticize the text perceptively.
h. Show how the theme or meaning of a selection represents a view or comment on life, using textual evidence to support the claims.
i. Produce responses to literature that demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the significant ideas in works or passages and the use of imagery and literary techniques (e.g., simile, metaphor, syntax, diction, symbolism), and support key ideas and viewpoints through accurate and detailed references to the text and to other works.

READING

By the end of grade 8:
a. Evaluate the proposition-and-support patterns in persuasive text.
b. Make inferences and draw conclusions based on implicit and explicit information.
c. Summarize and paraphrase information in texts, accurately reflecting the main ideas, including critical details, and conveying the underlying meaning of the original text.
d. Gather and verify information from a variety of sources.
e. Understand the coherence, logic and structural patterns of text.
f. Understand connections between essential ideas, arguments, and perspectives of an informational text.

By the end of grade 12:
a. Identify target audiences and evaluate the effectiveness and validity of arguments set forth in non-fiction texts.
b. Identify rhetorical devices used in texts and evaluate their effectiveness.
c. Recognize both compelling arguments and logical fallacies and identify the components of each.
d. Verify facts presented in informational texts (e.g., consumer, workplace and public documents and electronic information).

READING

By the end of grade 8:
a. Read texts in different genres.
b. Maintain personal reading habits outside of class specific activities.
c. Demonstrate enthusiasm for favorite authors, books and genres.

By the end of grade 12:
a. Integrate higher-level literary and academic works into recreational reading.
b. Supplement course reading with outside texts and materials.

WRITING

By the end of grade 8:
a. Use formal and informal English appropriate to audience and circumstance.
b. Identify and use a variety of sentence structures.
c. Identify and use a variety of paragraph structures.
d. Use parallel structure in all written discourse, including similar grammatical forms to present items in a series (e.g., consistency with tense, possessives, or plurals), complements, and items juxtaposed for emphasis.
e. Use subordination, coordination, apposition, and other devices to indicate clearly the relationship between written ideas.
f. Edit written work to reflect appropriate and effective grammar (e.g., verb tense, pronoun antecedent, etc.), spelling, and correct use of punctuation and capitalization.
g. Produce legible, correctly formatted work.
h. Write letters that follow the conventional style for the type of document (e.g., essay, report, letter of inquiry, memorandum).

By the end of grade 12:
a. Use strong, varied and appropriate structure in written work.
b. Edit for proper mechanics and format.

WRITING

By the end of grade 8:
a. Reflect on and critically evaluate own writing to ensure that content and organization suit the purpose and the audience.
b. Control and maintain coherence within and among paragraphs through effective transitions, structures and well-supported conclusion.
c. Support theses or conclusions with analogies, paraphrases, quotations and opinions from authorities, comparisons, and similar devices.
d. Relate clear, coherent incident, event or situation within a large repertoire of text forms by using well-chosen and relevant details, dialogue, description, comparison and contrast.
e. Make critical choices of tone and point of view to suit different purposes and to influence audience.
f. Conceal personal bias when appropriate.

By the end of grade 12:
a. Use written language to pose questions for inquiry, organize information, and communicate it effectively.
b. Use vocabulary specific to literary studies.
c. Demonstrate understanding of the elements of discourse (e.g., purpose, speaker, audience, form).
d. Use point of view, characterization, style (e.g., irony), and related elements for specific rhetorical and aesthetic purposes.
e. Use language in natural, fresh, and vivid ways, eliminating clichés and jargon, to create a specific tone.
f. Use rhetorical questions, parallelism, concrete images, figurative language, characterization, irony, and dialogue to achieve clarity, force, and aesthetic effect.
g. Distinguish among, and use, various forms of logic in argument, including inductive and deductive reasoning, syllogisms, and analogies.
h. Use logical, ethical and emotional appeals to enhance the intended tone and purpose.
i. Write persuasive compositions that include well-defined theses and make clear and knowledgeable judgments; support arguments with detailed evidence, examples, and reasoning, differentiating between evidence and opinion; and arrange details, reasons, and examples, effectively anticipating and answering reader concerns and counter-arguments.
j. Write effective narratives.
k. Write clear informational texts in a tone that fits purpose and audience.
l. Write poetry that makes effective use of metaphors, similes, meter, rhyme, and sound devices.
m. Revise writing to clarify, highlight individual voice, give sentence variety, and enhance subtlety of meaning and tone in ways that are consistent with purpose, audience, and genre.

WRITING

By the end of grade 8:
a. Use a variety of techniques (humor, sarcasm, irony, idiom and/or colloquialism) to convey personal style and voice.
b. Interject personal bias, insight or opinion when appropriate.
c. Relate/interject personal experiences when relevant to the topic.
d. Use cadence, tone, repetition, imagery and other poetic devices.
e. Experiment with language and structural features, making deliberate choices to break them in order to enhance meaning or expression.

By the end of grade 12:
a. Continue to develop narrative voice and expository style.

LISTENING AND SPEAKING

By the end of grade 8:
a. Respond to oral presentations by paraphrasing a speaker’s purpose and point of view and by asking follow-up questions.
b. Evaluate the credibility of a speaker (e.g., by detecting hidden agendas, slanted or biased material).
c. Evaluate the quality of a speaker (e.g., organization of information for audience and purpose, correct language and grammar, voice modulation, tone, and pacing).

By the end of grade 12:
a. Critique the impact that a speaker's use of diction and syntax has on purpose and audience.
b. Identify logical fallacies used in oral addresses (e.g., attack ad hominem, false causality, red herring, hasty generalization, bandwagon, circular reasoning).
c. Analyze the four basic types of persuasive speeches (e.g., propositions of fact, value, problem, or policy).
d. Effectively conduct interviews.
e. Take an active part in discussions pertaining to the analysis and interpretation of a variety of texts.
f. Encourage others to participate in discussions and seminars through attentive listening and thoughtful questioning of other discussion members.

LISTENING AND SPEAKING

By the end of grade 8:
a. Deliver coherently phrased, well-supported ideas in class discussions.
b. Use verbal and non-verbal cues (e.g., volume, pitch, phrasing, pace, gestures) to assist the listener in following key ideas and concepts.
c. Adjust presentations in response to verbal and non-verbal cues from the audience.
d. Use appropriate grammar, word choice, pronunciation, enunciation, and pace during formal presentations.
d. Match message, vocabulary, voice modulation, expression, and tone to audience and purpose.
e. Prepare a formal speech, following an outline that includes an introduction, previews, transitions, and summaries; a logically developed body; and an effective conclusion.
f. Use precise language, action verbs, sensory details, appropriate and colorful modifiers, and active rather than passive voice in ways that enliven oral presentations.
g. Plan and shape presentations to achieve particular purposes or effects and use feedback from rehearsals to make modifications.
h. Deliver clear, coherent formal and informal presentations that use voice modulation, tone, and gestures expressively to enhance meaning and are appropriate to audience and purpose, e.g.:
· relate an incident, event, or situation by using well-chosen details; reveal the significance of the subject's attitude about the incident, event, or situation; and employ narrative and descriptive strategies (e.g., relevant dialogue, specific action, physical description, background description, comparison or contrast of characters).
· deliver persuasive presentations that include a thesis and support arguments with evidence.
· deliver oral reports on research using exposition, narration, description, argumentation, or some combination; and
· recite poems (four to six stanzas), sections of speeches, or dramatic soliloquies.

By the end of grade 12:
a. Use effective language, including informal usage for effect; standard English for clarity; and technical language for specificity.
b. Use rhetorical questions, parallelism, concrete images, figurative language, characterization, irony, and dialogue to achieve clarity, force, and aesthetic effect in oral presentations.
c. Distinguish among, and use, various forms of logic in argument, including inductive and deductive reasoning, syllogisms, and analogies in oral presentations.
d. Use logical, ethical, and emotional appeals that enhance a specific tone and purpose in oral communications.
e. Make oral presentations with command of text, e.g.:
· deliver persuasive presentations that include well-defined theses making clear and knowledgeable judgments; support arguments with detailed evidence, examples and reasoning, differentiating evidence from opinion; and
· deliver multimedia presentations that combine text, images, and sound, drawing information from many sources.
f. Deliver oral presentations with skillful and artistic staging and attention to performance details that achieve clarity, force, and aesthetic effect, e.g.:
· effectively anticipate and answer listener concerns and counter-arguments through the inclusion and arrangement of details, reasons, examples, and other elements;
· test audience response and revise the presentation accordingly; and
· use passages from published work (e.g., poems, speeches, soliloquies) to demonstrate understanding of meaning and mastery of delivery skills.

INFORMATION LITERACY

By the end of grade 8:
a. Recognize the different ways media products reflect the audience for which they were created.
b. Identify examples of bias in the media.
c. Analyze strategies employed by the media (e.g., logical fallacy, advertising, perpetuation of stereotypes, use of visual representations, special effects, language) to inform, persuade, entertain, and transmit culture.

By the end of grade 12:
a. Distinguish between fact and opinion in media messages.
b. Analyze the techniques used in media messages for a particular audience and evaluate their effectiveness.
c. Determine the point of view of a media message and its probable intent through the analysis of persuasive devices and techniques.
d. Analyze diction of scripts, content of images and audio effects to discover probable intentions of media messages.

INFORMATION LITERACY

By the end of grade 8:
a. Plan and conduct multiple-step information searches using print and multimedia resources.
b. Understand the structure and organization of almanacs, newspapers, periodicals, search engines and directories, and web reference sites in order to use them effectively.
c. Prepare reports or research presentations that define a thesis; record important ideas, concepts, direct quotations from significant information sources; paraphrase and summarize relevant perspectives on the topic; and organize and record information on charts, maps, and graphs.
d. Use a variety of primary and secondary sources, determining the nature and usefulness of each.
e. Cite sources parenthetically within text.
f. Provide a formal bibliography using a standard format.

By the end of grade 12:
a. Use clear research questions to develop creative and critical research strategies (e.g., field studies, oral histories, interviews, experiments, electronic sources).
b. Use systematic strategies (e.g., outlining, anecdotal scripting, annotated bibliographies) to organize and record information.
c. Analyze several records of a single event and explain the perceived reasons for the similarities and differences in records.
d. Use information derived from primary and secondary sources to support or enhance an argument; include information from relevant perspectives, taking the validity and reliability of sources into consideration.
e. Achieve effective balance between research information and original ideas in a research report.
f. Document research in accordance with school guidelines.